We Were Dancing is a short play by Noël Coward, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30, a cycle written to be performed in alternating groups of three plays, across three evenings. In the introduction to a published edition of the plays, Coward wrote, "A short play, having a great advantage over a long one in that it can sustain a mood without technical creaking or over padding, deserves a better fate, and if, by careful writing, acting and producing I can do a little towards reinstating it in its rightful pride, I shall have achieved one of my more sentimental ambitions."[1] Four of the plays in the cycle, including We Were Dancing, "break into spontaneous song... in the most unexpected places".[2] We Were Dancing includes a song of the same name.[3]
The piece was first produced in 1935 and played in London (1936), New York (1936–1937) and Canada (1938). The Manchester Guardian described the play as "a witty little piece",[4] and it was later seen as one of the more durable of the Tonight at 8:30 cycle.[5] It has enjoyed several major revivals.
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The play was first presented at the Opera House, Manchester, on 15 October 1935, when it was played along with The Astonished Heart and Red Peppers.[4] Six of the plays debuted in Manchester, and a seventh was added on the subsequent provincial tour. The final three were added for the London run.[6] The plays were performed in various combinations of three at each performance during the original run. The plays chosen for each performance were announced in advance, although a myth evolved that the groupings were random.[7] Matinées were sometimes billed as Today at 2:30.
The first London performance was on 9 January 1936 at the Phoenix Theatre.[8] Coward directed. All ten pieces starred Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. Coward said that he wrote them as "acting, singing, and dancing vehicles for Gertrude Lawrence and myself".[9] The Broadway openings for the three parts took place on 24 November 1936, 27 November 1936 (including We Were Dancing) and 30 November 1936 at the National Theatre, again starring Coward and Lawrence. Star Chamber was not included.[10] The London and New York runs were limited only by Coward's boredom at long engagements.[11]
Major productions of parts of the cycle were revived in 1948 and 1964 on Broadway, 1981 at the Lyric Theatre in London and at the Chichester Festival in 2006, but all omitted We Were Dancing. However, We Were Dancing was revived at the Shaw Festival in 1971 and at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2000.[2] The Antaeus Company in Los Angeles revived all ten plays in October 2007, as did the Shaw Festival in 2009.[12]
The play was adapted as a film of the same name in 1942, with a screenplay by Claudine West, Hans Rameau and George Froeschel. It was directed by Robert Z. Leonard. The film starred Norma Shearer and Melvyn Douglas, and also featured Florence Shirley, Lee Bowman and Lenore J. Coffee.[13]
Two stylish people, Karl and Louise (a married woman), fall in love at a country club dance on a south Pacific island. They spend the night planning their future, and Karl asks Louise to go to Australia with him, although she prefers South Africa. Her husband, Hubert, pleads with her to leave with him, but to no avail. Hubert departs, asking Karl to make Louise happy. In the cold light of morning, when they are tired and hungry, Karl and Louise realise that that love has died, and they have nothing in common. They go their separate ways.